Kaitlyn Tierney

Kaitlyn, a former zoo librarian and health communications professional, learned how to develop websites and reinvented her career. With a need for tech skills across all the non-profit sectors, learning to be an effective web developer appeared to be a natural next step for her career. When she's not working, you will find her traveling, diving, backpacking, or volunteering.

Former Librarian Turned Web Developer

Kaitlyn is a new to the tech world and she’s had an interesting career path which exemplifies what one can accomplish when they coming to learning, growing, and transitioning. Originally from the U.S. Kaitlyn currently resides in London. She worked as a librarian for many years before deciding that it was time to make a change with the direction of her career. She took classes through General Assembly and learned how to develop websites before landing her first job as a developer with her new skill set.

For anyone wondering if they should take the leap to move into web development, or learn to code: Do it! It's the right time to move into the industry, as there are still tons of jobs available and plenty of funding for development work... It was a great move, and I honestly wish I'd done it years sooner.

Kaitlyn works remotely for a web development consultancy called Happy Bear Software and she loves it. Primarily, her company provides Ruby on Rails development work with a focus on enhancing application security. On any given day, she could be working on a client's website, adding new features or updating the existing codebase, doing security audits, helping to prepare for an upcoming security workshop, or building internal tools. She apprectiates the variety of the work and the opportunities to learn more about the different aspects of web development. Previously, she wored for a start-up in the Shoredtich neighborhood in London.

Kaitlyn has always had an interest in the internet as she shared with us:

“I've always been interested in the internet—growing up in a small suburb of San Diego, I spent a lot of time developing friendships and cultivating interests online, where I could find an endless spread of information and interesting people. This interest is part of why I went into librarianship in the first place, as I was excited about the changing landscape of information access as the internet was becoming indispensible. It took me a long time to make the jump from writing simple HTML and CSS to build and maintain static websites as one small part of my job, to actually building full-stack applications, understanding JavaScript, and learning to work with server-side programming languages”

In true technista fashion, when Kaitlyn is not working her 9-to-5, she spends her extra time organising London's Women in Tech book club and doing photography for Sofar Sounds. When she’s not working, she participates in activities like archery, yoga, scuba diving, rock climbing, backpacking and hiking that can be done in natural environments.